11 August 2009
Diary: Bringing Water to a Haiti Community
Mechanical engineer Carolyn Shapiro led volunteers from Portland, Oregon, on three trips to Les Anglais, Haiti. Her team, representing a professional chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA, worked to fix water systems that had been knocked out by hurricanes. Shapiro works at Esco Corporation in Portland.
June 1, 2009
The mayor pointed out an area 10 kilometers from town that is inhabited by about 10,000 people. The only way to reach it was to first drive a short way then walk or go by donkey.
People who live in this remote area have no developed water system, so they are dealing with more illness and infant mortality than we’ve measured in neighborhoods near town. One home had three young children and a baby, all small and all sick with diarrhea. Families want a safe source of ample water.
When I arrived at the excavation site where we were working at the existing community water system, Steve and M. Jean-Marie — a local man whom we knew only by first name — were there, standing in an excavation half filled with water, connecting the flow-meter. Even though M. Jean-Marie was obviously tired and standing thigh-deep in filthy water, he smiled warmly and waved. This is part of what makes our work so enjoyable.
We installed a well at the only clinic serving Les Anglais. (It is located in the town center.) They’ll have safe water for the first time in many years. It’s a huge difference when you think about it — operating a clinic without water and suddenly getting all the water you need.
July 2, 2009
Today, everyone’s hope is to find the last blockage in the system. If we can do that and achieve the flow we were getting a few hundred meters upstream, the reservoir should fill in around eight hours. This seemed like a modest goal when we were planning the trip. But we’ve come to see just how challenging it is.
If anyone saw the intensity of everyone working these repairs today, he would understand the nature of this project. The diggers were singing and dancing, banging rocks against a shovel to keep up the momentum while they dug in the heat all day to find a buried pipe. Lo and Edward were attacking the temporary piping for the backflow line like their lives depended on it.
Georges-Henri removed the final obstruction. He reached into the reservoir door with a hose with water shooting out of it and positioned it on the pipe end inside. Lo and I held the hose to stabilize it. Dave held Georges to keep him from falling into the reservoir. Steve was on the ground, watching from down there. It must have looked like a Three Stooges comedy episode. Finally, Steve said the flow at the bottom had improved significantly — the obstruction was cleared. Steve and Dave hooked up the repair sleeve at the ground inlet, and we watched the water flow. It POURED out the pipe this time.
We’d done it. The reservoir will fill in about nine hours, seven times faster than before. Our local diggers were there, smiling, as were several dozen onlookers. Etienne phoned the mayor to give him the good news.
